Corn News

London -
Nobody in the food industry would be totally surprised if someone came up with a roast house brick, or a fillet of drywall as a new food fad. The creativity is there; it’s the sanity which seems to be missing.

A genetic analysis of ancient and modern maize has revealed the crop’s complex domestication history. It began as a Mexican wild grass and developed into the plant capable of being used to produce corn porridge and tortillas.

A new agreement in the European Union allows genetically engineered crops to be approved without member-state votes. This represents a U-turn for before all member states needed to agree. The new policy will allow several GMO foods to enter the market.

Berna -
Many modern crops have lost their ability to produce certain defence chemicals, making them vulnerable to attack by pathogens. Scientists are exploring ways to help protect maize by re-arming it with its ancestral chemical weapons.

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher encouraged farmers to carry on with the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food and establish standards for international trade, while a shipment of GMO corn sits off the coast of China.

Researchers in two major universities and a cancer institute in the United States have found a link between eating peanut butter and a lower risk of breast disease. The researchers found the link between peanut butter and benign breast disease.

Mexico -
A decision as to a widespread planting of genetically modified (GM) corn or transgenic maize in Mexico will not be made under the outgoing government of President Felipe Calderón. It will now await until sometime next spring.

Paris -
The results of a two-year feeding trial were released yesterday, with details of tumors and mortality in rats, and a telebriefing conference was held which has now been released as an audio file.

The Midwest is experiencing its worst drought since 1988 , and corn crops are suffering as a result. Shortages are predicted due to the damage already done by the drought. But if drought conditions continue, the damage will be felt deeply by consumers.

A new discovery in Peru suggests early inhabitants ate corn 1,000 years earlier than previously thought.
An unearthing of ancient corncobs, husks, stalks and tassels were unearthed and date back approximately 6,700 to 3,000 years ago.

Brasil -
As new satellite data shows deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest increased almost sixfold in the past year, Brazil's Chamber of Deputies passed a vote which would ease regulations on the Forest Code, allowing farmers to increase deforestation.

The Cary Institute for Ecosystem Studies published research findings in late September showing an insecticidal protein, called Cry1Ab, inserted into genetically modified corn to fight insect predation, was found in US waterways.

While some genetically modified crops are allowed to be cultivated in Europe, Italy has dragged its feet on establishing policies, resulting in a situation where farmers cannot get permission to grow GM corn or potatoes.